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Balaji Srinivasan: Spreading the Network State
With renewing public institutions on the agenda, the Network State could be an idea whose time has come. If so, Srinivasan will again have been prescient.
Updated Dec 10, 2024, 6:19 p.m. Published Dec 10, 2024, 2:24 p.m.
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Writing in praise of Balaji Srinivasan’s 2022 book, “The Network State: How to Start a New Country,” Marc Andreessen observed that “Balaji has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met.”
More than that, the book itself showcased a different, if no less impressive, talent: Balaji’s knack for launching memetic movements.
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The Network State is a plan for techno-utopians to abandon antiquated nation states and build geographically distributed technocratic sovereignties. At a time when the political debate is between those invested in current institutions and those who want to build anew, the Network State has gone viral as the leading exit strategy.
This is due in large part to Balaji himself, who has used his prominence and elite connections to spread the Network State meme, including with the Network State Podcast and by launching the Network School this year. His critics (primarily from the left) have accused the Network State of engaging in fascist-chic cosplay and establishing a libertarian enclave that entrenches an outdated Westphalian-style sovereignty based on territorial boundedness and diplomatic recognition that does not serve digital nations.
Suffice it to say, none of those critiques, counter-movements nor, for that matter, the recent election of a reform-minded technocracy to the White House, has sapped any energy from the Network State meme. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
This profile is part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2024 package. For all of this year's nominees, click here.
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